Avow

CHAPTER 29

Scarlet had spent the past five days at the library searching for information on the Fountain of Youth and the word Avalon and found only one promising lead: a town in Georgia called Avalon.

Not only was the town closely located to where Scarlet’s uncle claimed to have found the fountain, but it was also the only place in the world one could find Bluestone—the rarest rock on earth.

Coincidence? Scarlet didn’t think so.

But she needed more details, which was why she was headed out to meet with someone who might have more answers for her.

She tiptoed down the stairs and hoped her roommate was too consumed with his research to notice her leaving the house so late.

She liked living with Nate. He was quirky and quiet but he kept out of her business. He didn’t pander after her like Gabriel or shy away from her like Tristan. He was just…normal. Normal and sad.

The last thing she wanted to do was add an additional worry to his heavy shoulders. Quietly, Scarlet strode to the front door and opened it without a sound. She was basically a ninja. Stealthy. Silent. Blending into the night—

“Good evening,” Nate said.

Scarlet jumped and spun around to face him with a loud exhale. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Okay. Then don’t sneak out on me like that.”

“I’m not sneaking out.”

He squinted. “You were tiptoeing through the hall, hunched over like the Pink Panther.”

“The who?”

“Never mind. Where are you going?”

“I’m meeting someone. A friend.”

Nate waited.

“A guy named Kirk,” Scarlet said. “Happy?”

Nate shrugged. “I’ll come with you to see Kirk.”

“No, you won’t.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What’s going on, Scarlet?”

She ran a hand through her hair. “There’s just some stuff I have to do, and I need to do it on my own. Trust me.”

“I do trust you. But you can trust me too, you know. You don’t have to keep secrets.”

Scarlet shifted, guilt making her uncomfortable in the doorway. “I know.”

After a long pause, Nate exhaled and moved to leave. “Don’t stay out too late. Tomorrow is testing day with you and Tristan.”

Scarlet’s stomach filled with dread. “Yay.”

She left out the front door and headed for New York University. Once there, she entered a stairwell door and climbed her way to the third floor of the building.

She stopped outside an office with a sign in the window that read GENEOLOGY and softly rapped her knuckles against the open door. A middle-aged man wearing the world’s worst toupee looked up at her and smiled.

“Are you Miss Jacobs?”

“Yes.” She stepped into the office. “You must be Professor Baker.”

“Yes, but you can call me Kirk. You’re here about researching your family history for a school assignment, correct?”

Scarlet nodded. So she’d lied a little on the phone.

“Then you’ve come to the right place. I help students retrace their family trees all the time. Please, sit.”

Scarlet sat in the chair across from Kirk’s desk as he scratched the top of his head, his toupee moving back and forth with the motion.

He pulled a form from a desk drawer. “Do you have a list of surnames we might begin with?”

“Yes.” Scarlet pulled a piece of paper from her pocket with the names of her mother, father, and uncle written down. “I want to look for anything related to these names in or around the Avalon, Georgia area.”

“Oh. That’s a rather specific request.” Kirk scanned the list and gave a single nod. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’m not doing this,” Gabriel held up the joystick in his hand. “It’s weird.”

“It’s not weird,” Tristan said. “It’s Atari.”

Nate made a face. “Isn’t Atari a video game for kids?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t really feel like having fun.”

“And that’s the problem.” Tristan shoved the other joystick into Nate’s hand. “You’re miserable. You need a distraction, so suck it up and play the damn game.”

Tristan started hooking the cables to the TV.

Gabriel looked around. “Is Scarlet here?”

Nate frowned. “Nope. She snuck out an hour ago.”

“She snuck out?” Gabriel asked. “Where did she go?”

“I don’t know.” Nate shrugged. “But she’s been secretive lately, sneaking off every day to go to the ‘library’. So who knows?”

Tristan felt his chest twist up. Scarlet’s emotions had been all over the place lately. Scared, excited, worried, afraid. And now she was sneaking out?

What was she up to?